In the ongoing war against cyber-crime, it’s the responsibility of today’s organizations to fortify their IT systems as much as humanly possible to avoid becoming the victim of hackers.
We live in a hyper-connected digital age and as such, the vast majority of businesses exist online. And that means that if you don’t take the right measures to enhance the security of your IT systems, your sensitive data could be hacked or publicly leaked in a matter of moments. Naturally, this would be devastating both in terms of time, money and brand reputation.
The average cost of a data breach is expected to break $150 million by 2020. Moreover, by the end of the year, cybercrime will cost businesses over $2 trillion. That’s huge.
Now, your IT system is only as strong as its weakest link. That said, in an age where our internal networks are more complex than ever before, patch management is the most effective means of increasing the efficiency of your IT infrastructure while protecting your business against potentially devastating cyber-attacks.
What is patch management?
At its core, patch management refers to the process of constantly installing patches (a set of code changes to a program) and software updates for every platform, application, and entity within your IT infrastructure. The goal of software patches is to fix ongoing bugs in the system, but more importantly, patch vulnerable pieces of code that are currently penetrable, making your IT infrastructure vulnerable for cyber-attacks.
With robust, consistent and effective patch management you will ensure that every single connection within your infrastructure is fortified against potential acts of cyber-crime, all while running to its maximum capacity. Protection and performance in one single IT-driven initiative.
How to patch your entire infrastructure
Patching each and every cog within your IT infrastructure is no longer an entirely manual process. Simply put, you don’t have to painstakingly work though, check and update all of your applications on an individual basis – in the modern age, you can rely on cloud-based technology to streamline your efforts.
That said, to patch your entire your whole IT infrastructure successfully, you should take these key elements into account:
Prioritize
Security patches generally come in two forms: highly critical and less critical.
A pivotal part of any good IT patch management strategy, prioritizing each element within your system for risk assessment will help you to identify any glaring weaknesses within your infrastructure, empowering you to tackle all of your applications logically, thus ensuring that every part of your system is fully fortified against cyber-attacks.
Test
Prior to deploying security patches, you must test them.
By conducting a comprehensive level of patch testing, you’ll make sure your infrastructure is strong, optimized and error-free. With careful patch testing, you’ll be able to maintain a sustainably solid level of security across your entire infrastructure and keep your organization safe from breaches consistently. Software such SysAid offer robust patch testing solutions with minimal time, effort while ensuring maximum success.
Automate
Business automation of all varieties helps to save time, save money and fosters company-wide efficiency in a number of key areas. Patch management IT logistics are no exception.
Rolling out security patches successfully can prove challenging but with smart patch management tools, you can automate most pivotal patch management processes from testing and prioritization to hazard identification, and beyond.
By implementing an automated patch management system across your entire IT infrastructure, you’ll keep your business safe from potential cyber-attacks while making your business more productive – a real win-win.
There’s no doubt about it: patch management is integral to protecting your business against breaches, hacks, and attacks.
While patch management was once a daunting, laborious task, today’s solutions are intuitive, user-friendly and robust, leaving little excuses for modern businesses to overlook it as part of their ongoing cybersecurity strategy. Embrace the power of patch management today and you’ll keep your business safe today, tomorrow and long into the future. For more on cyber hacks and data breaches, read My LinkedIn got hacked, and I want to hack it back – your guide to LinkedIn security.